Woodturners Newsletter, October 2026

West Bay Woodturners Newsletter is a monthly update on the club activities. This free resource is available to beginner and professional woodturners.

Next Meeting

Agenda

President’s Challenge

• An eccentric multi-axis turning – those without a purpose-built eccentric chuck can use the between centers with offsets method
• A bowl (or other shape) with an off-center hollow – those without a purpose-built offset chuck can use the rotating faceplate technique

Upcoming Programs

18 November 2026 – Russell Mohr has impressed us with his wood-and-epoxy creations, which highlight wood character, fill voids and cracks, and introduce color and transparency. See Russell’s work on his website or watch his project videos on YouTube. He will give a presentation showing creation of a piece step by step, along with the molds, tools, and materials he uses, and pre-made samples representing different stages of the process.

President’s Message

The October 2026 issue of the Journal of the American Association of Woodturners contains two timely articles apposite to last month’s general meeting:

1. “Woodturning and Respiratory Safety” (page 30) reinforces the message delivered by Dean Caudle.
2. “Subdue the Skew with Spinning Tops”(page 26) is a good read for those who still might want to make tops in support of Kirsten Mouradian’s sickle cell awareness effort.

– Edgar Whipple, President

Last Meeting Review

Wednesday September 16, 2026

Woodturners newsletter notes by Laura Rhodes; pictures by Angela Gunn and Roman Chernikov.

Announcements

• No guests
• Holiday party will be on December 16 (the third Wednesday as with our normal meetings) with the time shifted to 5pm – 9pm. We need a coordinator! Due to popular demand, Jim Koren has agreed to cook the turkey again this year. There will be a gift exchange (something you have turned) and also an ornament raffle.
• Kirsten Mouradian is collecting turned tops for her pediatric sickle cell anemia patients. They will draw a red crescent representing a diseased cell on the top and then spin it to show how their medication restores the red blood cell to its proper round shape. Many club members have donated tops!
• Timber available:
  • Liquidambar from the back of Jim’s truck. -$5 a piece
  • A few pieces of Shamel ash are still available at the Whipple residence. Edgar recommends Osmo raw matte for a finish for this light colored wood.
  • Jim Koren talked about establishing protocols and guidelines for wood acquisition for the club. He noted that some members are hesitant to participate in a wood haul because they don’t have the equipment to cut the wood to size. Edgar, Jim and Kelly have volunteered to help members with this.
• Dean Caudle gave a short presentation about respiratory protection. He recommends a P100 mask instead of an N95 because it is effective in oily environments. A powered respirator provides even better protection, especially for those with facial hair.
• There was a discussion about hands-on demos, perhaps at the Palo Alto adult school. For now, that’s on hold.
• For our October meeting, Don Bonnett will give a demonstration on making finials. In November, Russell Mohr will be talking about woodturning with epoxy. Our December meeting will be the holiday party.

Demonstration – Offset Turning – Bud Trapp, Claude Godcharles, Alison Lee, Jon Bishop

In 2009, Bud had the opportunity to take a class with Jean-Francois Escoulen in France. This was before Francois established his formal woodturning school so Bud’s class was with just one other student and held at the Escoulen home. Bud showed several samples of the offset turnings he created in class. In the class, no special chucks were used, just offset mounting points identified on the bases. No finish was applied to the pieces, they were just buffed with wax. Bud also showed a piece that he had purchased from Francois Escoulen. Bud enjoyed the class, but in the intervening years, he has actually done no offset turning.

Due to a favorable exchange rate at the time of the club’s group order from VicMarc, Claude Godcharles was able to purchase an Escoulen offset chuck at an excellent price. He also had an older model of an Escoulen chuck. Although Claude hasn’t had time to fully explore their possibilities, he explained how the parts of the two chucks work.

Alison Lee showed the Joyner Off Center Jig Kit she recently purchased from Niles Bottle Stoppers. She’s been studying Barbara Dill’s book on multi-axis spindle turning but hasn’t yet had a chance to explore the use of the jig. The jig is designed for smaller pieces such as pendants.

As part of the show & tell, Jon Bishop showed how he attached a bowl to a chuck in an offset position using hot glue to secure the work.

President’s Challenge – Turn a Platter

Kevin Lee made a platter from quarter-sawn coastal Live Oak that he obtained from Claude.

Bob Bley made a Bastogne walnut platter with wood from Mike Mahoney. It was finished with either Osmo or Tried & True.

Jon Sauer showed an oval zebra wood tray that was made by Al Sills (he had traded a box for it). The tray had flat sides. It had originally been turned with sacrificial side pieces that were removed in the final piece.

Daniel Saal turned a platter from a crotch section of shamel ash. He finished it with Tried & True. Since it was turned wet, the platter warped slightly. Daniel plans to level off the base on the sander so that it’ll sit flat on the table.

Alison Lee showed some small dishes from Redwood cutoffs. She also made a square bowl/platter.

Dean Caudle made a square plate.

Kelly Smith also made a square plate, this one of cypress.

Show & Tell

Kelly Smith made a 4-bowl broadleaf maple set. Three of the bowls came from a single piece that he cored with help from Dan Boehmke. The smallest bowl came from the same tree. All were finished with General Finishes Bowl finish. Kelly also showed mushrooms made with his two piece method. He showed a Maple shallow bowl, several tops, a thimble made from a tagua nut and a melted snowman.

Bob Bley showed a big Redwood bowl with the turquoise rim, finished with wipe-on Poly. He also made a Sycamore bowl with a fractal carved epoxy filled rim. He noted he had to do several fills of epoxy because it really sank in. Bob also showed a Buckeye burl hollow form. The base was very punky so he had to firm up the Tenon with epoxy. The piece was finished it with wipe-on Poly and even with no dye it’s vibrantly colored

Al Holstein made a bowl from a cedar tree from Kansas with sentimental value.

Daniel Saal turned a walnut bowl

Jon Bishop made two small off-center bowls. He showed how he made them using a chuck with the offset held with hot glue

Kevin Lee was inspired by Nate Segraves’ olive vase that was very “holey”. Kevin made his own olive burl vase with voids.

Angela Gunn created a nativity set for her mother made with all different kinds of woods -the wise men were all created from expensive woods, the shepherd from firewood, Joseph from a piece of oak from Edgar. She used a cup burr bit in a rotary tool to create the sheep’s fleece.

Woodturning Book Library

Woodturners Newsletter Editing Notes

WBW members, please let the newsletter editors know if you have a personal website, and would like it included in the President’s Challenge and Show & Tell sections of our Woodturning Newsletter. Email us at info@westbaywoodturners.com.

Board Members and Committee Chairs